A MOTHER and her two young children narrowly escaped death after a lamp-post crashed on to the pavement just feet away.

Alison Hatzar, 30, of Dewhurst Close, Darwen, today demanded to know why the council had not removed the faulty concrete post despite a local shopkeeper reporting it to them more than five hours earlier.

She said the lamp-post would have tumbled on her family had she not stopped to unwrap a chocolate bar for her son.

Her concerns were backed up by Whitehall councillor Karimeh Foster, who vowed to take the matter to the chief executive, saying she was "very disappointed" with the council's lack of action.

Sayyed Osman, Blackburn with Darwen's assistant director of regeneration, housing and neighbourhoods at the council, said: "We received a report of a leaning lamp-post at 9.30am and it was scheduled to be dealt with that day as in line with any other reports of leaning lamp-posts which are generally non-urgent.

"We were however not aware of the severity of the damage but as soon as we were, instructions were made to prioritise it and it was dealt with in the afternoon."

The lamp-post crashed down shortly after Mrs Hatzar left G&H Mottram grocers, Cemetery Road, about 2.30pm on Monday.

She turned into Knowlesly Road with her four-year-old son Lloyd and 11-month-old baby Annika, who was in a pram.

She said: "If it had been 10 seconds later we would have ended up under it and one, if not all, of us could have been killed. I'm still shaking now thinking about it. The only reason we hadn't reached it was because I was unwrapping a chocolate bar for Lloyd."

But when Mrs Hatzar went back to the shop to let owner, Geoffrey Mottram, know what had happened, he told her he had reported the leaning lamp-post that morning.

Mr Mottram said: "It was leaning about 20 degrees from where it should have been.

"I reported it to the council between 9am and 9.15am and expected them to be here fairly rapidly. The first I knew of it falling over was when there was a huge bang and the young woman came back in with her children.

"She was very shaken by it. It was fortunate that no-one was hurt because there had also been a man walking past with his dog. As it was it just stopped short of the garage.

"The council were up here within half an hour of it falling, so I don't know why nothing was done sooner. If it had fallen on the lady and her children it would definitely have killed them."

Mrs Hatzar said: "I just grabbed the kids and stood there shaking. God must have been watching over us. A little boy had gone past on bike a few seconds earlier too.

"It's really worrying and I'll be nervous walking past another lamp-post now. I think the council should have done something about it if they knew it was on a tilt."

Coun Foster said: "Someone should have been up there within five minutes to put it safe. A mother or child could have been killed and it would have been the responsibility of the council."